Dream of the Free Man
by JapanCat
Summary: A dream from the mind of Mukuro. ...Or the one in which you should drop logic to understand it and put on a helmet so it won't get all over the place when I blow your mind.


**This was not purchased.**

_Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious. -Sigmund Freud, psychoanalyst._

_..._

_What do I fear, you ask? I do not fear the world of sanity, the world of reality. What I fear is sleep and the dreams sleep may bring. The mind is the most horrible yet the most pleasant place we can retreat to._

_---_

_The child looked at the masked lord and asked him, "Why do you wear a mask?"_

The lord looked at the child with deep confusion. "When I become your age, perhaps I will know. I have nothing to hide so you keep your face open."

The child smiled, apparently satisfied with that answer. "There's something I should say too before you leave me once again." She pointed to the distance. "Don't go through those woods. There lives The Beast, the feeder of women."

"I would... I would never go there. I have no reason."

"**You liar! I hate you**! ...Though sometimes I wish we could..."

XxxX

Mukuro was walking through some halls that reached as far as the eye could see when she came across a door with no knobs. She was curious as to how to enter the room. She knew that no matter what, she had to go through. She did an about face upon hearing a series of knocks on the wall. There were scratches coming from behind the door she just turned away from. She was terribly afraid of what was behind that door but she had to go in. Just when she turned around to contemplate the opening of the door she saw that it was gone. But she saw in the corner of her eye she saw it was on the other side. The side she just turned away from. She started to turned to the other wall but she saw it was gone on that side too. She thought the sensible thing to do was to pass the wall but she was also determined to go through that damned door.

///

The lord removed his mask, looked at the mirror painted on the wall, and stared at the woman's face. He doubted the woman would ever show her face, much less any other part of her body, to anyone in the future. Yet there she was in the mirror smiling at what she had done. The physical flaws she had were nothing she thought. If you were to tell her of such things she would look at you like you told her she had a chipped nail, an insignificant issue. I don't know if that's arrogance or something to be found admirable.

The lord signed **and put his mask back on.**

...

I was walking down these stairs and then a

board

broke

and

_I_

_fell_

_down_

_with_

_it._

\\\

"Don't cry," he said. "Don't."

!!!

The lord walked into the prison and looked at the convict, who was laying down on the bed f stone. He glanced at the lord and sat up with a frown, not even bothering to stand up and walk to the bars that separated the two.

"What do you want?" the convict asked.

"You're a little young to be in here," the lord replied simply.

"You're a little sophisticated to be here. There. Shut up. We both don't belong."

"What're you in for?"

"There's a reason I don't tell people that type of thing. It's because people either tell me how much they sympathize with me and how it makes them want to throw the world into the sun as if I am the one thing that makes the world completely intolerable because I'm an innocent victim apparently. I don't think so. They're stupid. That and I just don't know where to start. There's so much I've done with my life. But if I had a chance to do it over I don't think I'd change a thing."

"Your honesty is charming."

"Your compliment is annoying. You're kind of creeping me out."

"They get that a lot. Listen, I need you for something. I have to pass that forest, you know, the one in the hills. But I can't because the

beast

lives there. I'll let you go free if you help me through at least."

"Go hire a

professional." He laid back down.

"But you're better. And you'll get

FREED."

The convict rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you want me to be

FREE? You know how many men I've killed? How do you know I won't just kill you or abandon you in the forest?"

"Because you _**need me, Right now you **_**need me. And I **_need you and you alone at the moment._"

The convict considered it. He even held up his hands like they were a scale and even raised and lowered them in relation to the other. Actually the bed he was sitting on was kind of dirty. The lord thought he probably got mud on his shoes and slept in the bed with his shoes on. Once he came to a near decision, the convict asked the lord, "What's the beast's name? I get these things confused. There's about a half hundred I can think of."

"I really don't know its name. I only know it as the feeder of women." Very quick response, sir.

Oh, I know what you're talking about now. His name is"

"""""

Kirin was speaking to Mukuro. She tapped him on the shoulder and he popped. His speech prior to his implosion was composed of nothing more than a series of squeaks like two balloons rubbing together. She walked _alone_ in the hall when Hiei touched her. His hands were cold as ice. "I wouldn't search alone. You'd get lost."

You'd get lost he said. He says.

She looked at the hall. It seemed to be endless. What a meaningless search. "I should, shouldn't I?"

"As I told you before."

]][[

"I hate that name," the lord said with clear anger.

"So you've met this beast before?" the convict asked, cocking a brow. Oh now he's interested. He got off the bed that needed some cleaning and started to lean against the bars.

"I can't lie to you. Yes, I do know the beast."

"So why ask the name if you already know?"

"Don't ask me, okay? I wanted to forget about him and now I have to deal with the beast. I told the lord to stay away but he won't stay away. I think he's a fool for hiding his face."

"If you know the beast personally you should do it yourself."

"I can't. The beast is the feaster of women. And I told you _**I need you and you alone right now **_and _you need me just the same_."

"Not you alone. I guess I'll do it. I would wanna get out of here... It stinks like shit in here."

"I'm sure." Staring at the dirty bed once again.

...

I looked inside my house one day and thought to myself, Why don't I have a chimney or a fireplace? Frustration it is. And why are there knotholes in my trees?

''''''

So the two went through the forest.

()()()

There are clouds above the house.

)()()(

"I know what the beast's called and that it's somewhere around here. But that about it," the convict said to break the silence. He stared at the lord, hoping for an answer.

"You'll know it when you see it," the lord replied simply. There was a tiger sitting in the pine tree. What the hell is a tiger doing in a pine tree?

"Man I could be going out and doing other important things and here I am talking to some high class, fancy ass psychopath."

"Your sister and everyone else you've taken care of already, haven't you?"

"So the beast's a feeder of women. ...How did you survive?"

"I may have poisoned my blood to make it taste bad. But when I fled, ell, I realized I went the wrong way. I need to go the other way and I can't now." No response from the convict. "We have always lived in the castle."

"Yes, they have."

"What is your name?"

"My name? You think it's important NOW? Ugh, well it's"

... ... ...

She came down the hall to see some light at the left bend in the hallway. She turned into it anticipating escape but that was only met with a barred window. She knew there was no way she could pass that. She turned around and saw a mirror. She took it off the wall and saw a window she could escape through. Just as she

sat

on

the

window

sill,

she

looked down

and saw

no

end.

!!! ??? !!!

"Really.

Don't.

"You shouldn't

cry.

It's not right for you to do it.

**Tears don't look good on your face."**

[][][]

The lord blinked. "I see. I know I've heard of you."

"What, you just walked into the prison and said, 'Oh how about that lovely young chap over there? I daresay, he would be good candidate for my grand old mission and would just give me a jolly old time! By Jove, that's the most sensible idea I have come up with.' Insert a monocle and tea."

"I... I sound nothing like that. I doubt anyone in the world does."

"Are you sure?"

"Talk like that in front of the right crowd and you'll get beaten. Horribly."

"But do I know your name?" the convict asked him though it was obviously a forced question.

"Me? I'm"

"Then you shouldn't either," she replied.

///\\\

"Never heard of you," the convict replied gruffly. They arrived at the home of the beast and the convict kicked down the door. He glared at the lord when he didn't go in right away. "Go in before I kick your dumb ass in."

"Now is that language necessary? Do you kiss your mother with that mouth."

"I would but she's dead. How do you like that? And guess what else, Mr. Prissy-whatever the world's also twice as ugly too. And it's just a bunch of words. It won't hurt anyone. Unless you're easily offend."

"But it's still... Forget it." He followed the convict, who apparently in a strange rebellion decided to name of one by one every curse that he happened to know. The lord decided to attempt to drown out the convict's age. Is he a short older man or is he a teen still I can figure it out. They went down the stairs, finally in silence and there they saw the beast. It

"(Sorry, I have no I idea.)"

!!! !!! !!!

Hiei punched a hole in the wall, it broke down, revealing a labyrinth, a never ending maze. He turned around and looked at Mukuro like she was insane. "I'm not going through here without you, you know that, right?"

Yesyesyesno

And the beast was dead. They convict looked at the lord. "I've done my job. Now you can go."

"What about you? Where will you go?"

"I dunno. Been trapped so long I don't even remember what I dreamed of doing once I got out."

"So all that fussing earlier..."

"I know what you're going to say. Shut it. And who the hell uses the word fuss anymore? Quit using eighteenth century words? I'm not smart like you are!"

"It's a valid word, read the dictionary, you fool!"

"Well, excuse me for not having too much time on my hands!"

The lord started to laugh which annoyed the convict. The lord paused and decided to remove his mask. "Hey, I don't need it anymore. I don't."

---

"I've never experienced it or anything but neither have you. Let's just assume that it just won't work that way for either one of us. No matter how hard we try."

"Yeah, it really doesn't have to be that way. Just don't hold it against me when you leave."

"Make that an if. I don't have anywhere to go. Been trapped too long to know. Not here, I mean. It's not your fault. It's... You know what I mean, right? Good. But if I ever do find some reason to do it... Don't cry. Don't. Really. Don't. You shouldn't cry. It's not right for you to do it. Tears don't look good on your face."

"Then you shouldn't either. It doesn't make sense for you though. You're the one that found someplace better."

"Guess we keep each other sane."

"We she if this will be how it is for as long as it takes. I won't close that door for you. Because we'll never be joined in a way that does."

So he turns around, waits for her to come to him and the door was opened

and

they

leave

the

frame.

I am awake now. I am awake now. I am awake.

_And I have the joy of waking up to see you there._

* * *

_Dream of the Free Man_

* * *

Author's Notes: ...I am an insomniac.

Hoo, boy, this one's fun. It was written to purposely confuse people. What, you think I'm kidding? (Actually if you've talked to me or read any of my other things, you'd believe it.) I was actually confused myself when I wrote this. But it was actually really fun to type. It's like defying everything English has taught me. It's freaking awesome. Ha! But it was also a pain to go back and edit. I have nine pages of this story. But that's because of the spacing. (Actually some of this is really symbolic.) There are several references to a psychological test in which a house, a person, and a tree are drawn. I could explain the symbols in that test if you want. I actually think you should writestuff down in the notebook or reread it seveal times if it helps you figure it out better. It was also meant to be formatted weird too. It was supposed to be formatted like poetry but there's only so much that this site will allow me to do on my word processor. If I could I'd format it left and do different colors. That'd be awesome.  
Man, this one's insane (blame the insomnia, when you don't sleep you start to weird out, so I've noticed) and I love it for that. (How many of you people wanna punch me in the face now?) By the way, the last two sentences were from Mukuro. And yes, this whole thing was just a dream. Is.. Is... That a cliche too even though it was intended to... 

Well, I hope to hear from you, my friends. With love, JC.


End file.
